December 27, 2006

KUWABARA PAYNE MCKENNA BLUMBERG

Manitoba Hydro’s new head office will be a model of sustainable design in a cold climate.

Architecture

Manitoba Hydro tops in design

Canadian Architect Awards of Excellence

PATRICIA WILLIAMS

staff writer

Toronto’s Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg (KPMB) Architects has continued its winning ways, nabbing an Award of Excellence from Canadian Architect for Manitoba Hydro’s head office in Winnipeg.

KPMB was selected from a short list of eight international firms to lead the design of the highly energy-efficient, 690,000-square-foot tower, which has been billed as a model for cold climate design.

The firm is working on the $258 million project with Winnipeg’s Smith Carter Architects and Engineers and Prairie Architects Inc., which shared the award.

The project team includes energy/climate science consultants Transsolar, structural engineers Crosier Kilgour & Partners Ltd. with Halcrow Yolles, and mechanical and electrical engineers Earth Tech Canada Inc.

“It is a big, bold and confident project.”

Deborah Berke

Juror

Construction manager is PCL Constructors Canada Inc.

“The design of our new head office is a highly visible statement of Manitoba Hydro’s leadership in energy efficiency and sustainability,” said corporation president and CEO Bob Brennan.

“The building will provide a healthy, productive and creative workplace for our employees and have a positive impact on the sustainable future of Winnipeg’s downtown.”

The 22-storey tower, now under construction, has been designed to use 60 per cent less energy than the Model National Energy Code for Buildings.

Offices will have 100 per cent fresh air 24 hours a day/365 days a year, a challenge in a city that experiences extreme temperature variations. A fully glazed building envelope with unobstructed floorplates will ensure maximum exposure to natural daylight.

To ensure its project goals would be reached, Manitoba Hydro mandated use of an integrated design process.

The project was described by juror Deborah Berke of Deborah Berke & Partners of New York “as an elegant expression of sustainable architecture in a large building, a marriage of good design and big business.

“It is exactly companies like Manitoba Hydro that should be setting an example of environmentally responsible construction and the example of hiring excellent architects and encouraging them to do good work.

“It is a big, bold and confident project.”

The building is KPMB’s sixth project to receive a Canadian Architect Award of Excellence.

Awards of Excellence also went to:

• Paul Laurendeau Architecte/Jodoin Lamarre Pratte et associ<0x00E9>s architectes of Montreal for the Salle de Spectacle Desjardins in Dolbeau-Mistassini, Quebec.

• Peter Cardew Architects of Vancouver for the Garden Wall House in Vancouver.

Awards of Merit were presented to:

• Baird Sampson Neuert Architects of Toronto for the Opera Urbanus Old Post Office Plaza in St. Louis, Missouri.

• HIP Architects/David Murray Architect of Edmonton for the Ukrainian Canadian Archives & Museum of Alberta.

Awards are presented for architectural design excellence. Jurors considered response to the program, site, geographical and social context and evaluated physical organization, structure, materials and environmental features.

This year’s winners were selected by a jury that consisted of Talbot Sweetapple of MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects Ltd. in Halifax and Stephen Teeple of Teeple Architects Inc. in Toronto in addition to New York’s Berke.

One of only two national award programs devoted exclusively to architecture, the Awards of Excellence have recognized significant building projects in Canada on an annual basis since 1968.

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